Established in 2006, the Keystone State Education Coalition is a growing grass roots, non-partisan public education advocacy group of several hundred locally elected, volunteer school board members and administrators from school districts throughout Pennsylvania. Our mission is to evaluate, discuss and inform our boards, district constituents and legislators on legislative issues of common interest and to facilitate active engagement in public education advocacy.

Daily
postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now reach more than 1650
Pennsylvania education policymakers – school directors, administrators,
legislators, legislative and congressional staffers, members of the press and a
broad array of education advocacy organizations via emails, website, Facebook
and Twitter.

Removing the "double dip" for pension
costs in the charter school reimbursement formula would create an estimated
savings of $510 million for school districts and taxpayers by 2016-17. Currently, a school district's cost for
retirement is not subtracted from expenditures; thereby setting up a
"double dip" for charter schools since state laws guarantees them
state reimbursement for their retirement costs.

EITC 2.0: Pittsburgh
tax credit plan to fund scholarships starts slow

The first day of school
has come and gone, but Pittsburgh
groups raising money for a tax-credit scholarship program enacted this summer
say they are just beginning to solicit donations.

The Opportunity
Scholarship tax credit, which takes the concept behind an existing
tuition-subsidy program and targets it at students who live near low-performing
schools, became law along with the state budget, and commonwealth agencies
began authorizing businesses and schools to take part. The $50 million in tax
credits allowed under the law could provide tuition at private or public
schools for more than 40,000 students in grades K-12, a spokesman for the
Department of Community and Economic Development said last month.

Pa. teachers don't want to strike, despite expired contracts

September 17, 201212:19 am

By Mary Niederberger / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

School started in the
region this fall without the threat of teachers strikes, despite the fact that
contracts have expired in a number of districts. That reflects the situation statewide as
well, and some experts think the economy may be a factor.

"The unions have
recognized that the public is financially in a difficult position and now is
not necessarily a good time to go on strike and look for sympathy from the
voter/taxpayer. The economy is bad. It's tough everywhere right now," said
David Davare, director of research for the Pennsylvania School Boards
Association. Mr. Davare said this is the
second year that school opened across the state without talk of teacher
walkouts.

Teachers Union in Chicago
to Extend Strike Into 2nd Week

New York Times ByMONICA DAVEYandSTEVEN
YACCINO Published: September
16, 2012

CHICAGO — The Chicago
Teachers Union extended its strike into a second week on Sunday, after
significant divisions emerged among union delegates over a deal that only a day
before had been described by the union’s leader as “a good contract.”

The announcement came
after nearly 800 union representatives, the House of Delegates, convened for
several hours to decide whether to end a strike that has drawn national
attention in the debate over teacher evaluations, job security and the length
of a school day.

How the ChicagoPublicSchool
District Compares

New
York Times By MIKE BOSTOCK and KEVIN QUEALY Published:September 14, 2012

Delegates from the Chicago Teachers Union
declined to vote Sunday, extending the strike into its second week. Below, an
overview of some of the main issues in Chicago
public schools this year and a table comparing the Chicago public school district to others
across the country.

In Search of Excellent Teaching

New
York Times Editorial Published: September 16, 2012

The Chicago teachers’ strike was prompted in part
by a fierce disagreement over how much student test scores will weigh in a new
teacher evaluation system mandated by state law. That teachers’ unions in much
of the country now agree that student achievement should count in evaluations
at all reflects a major change from the past, when it was often argued that
teaching was an “art” that could not be rigorously evaluated or, even more
outrageously, that teachers should not be held accountable for student
progress.

Traditional teacher
evaluations often consist of cursory classroom visits by principals who declare
nearly every teacher good, or at least competent, even in failing schools where
few if any children meet basic educational standards.

“Our
most important investment would be in creating well-paying jobs so that
families have stability. In addition, the security of universally available
health care, pre-school, after-school and summer programs would bring to poor
students, what is a natural part of the lives of their wealthier, and typically
more successful, peers. The systemic success of these supports depends not just
upon their individual quality, but rather upon their purposeful coherent
implementation though community-wide collective action. “

Posted at 04:00 AM ET,
09/17/2012

Why schools alone can’t
cure poverty

School reformers often say that great teaching
can overcome the effects of poverty. Here, Arthur H. Camins, director of the
Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education at the Stevens
Institute of Technology in Hoboken,
N.J., discusses problems with
this reform narrative.

By Arthur H. Camins

President Obabma and other supporters of current
education reform policies often speak about high quality education as students’
only chance toescape from poverty. They also want to promote
science and engineering literacy. However, their singular focus on schools as
the cure for poverty violates a central crosscutting concept of science and
engineering, understanding systems.The National Research Council’s Framework for K-12
Science Educationmakes
the point clearly:

Why Estonia
Has Started Teaching Its First-Graders To Code

Estonia wants its kids to be "smarter users of
technology."

Estonia, a small country with a
population of 1.3 million people, punches above its own weight when it comes to
advancements in tech. It was the birthplace of Skype, one of the first countries to have a
government that wasfully e-enabled, and now it has launched a nationwide scheme to
teach school kids from the age of seven to 19, how to write code. The idea
isn’t to start churning out app developers of the future, but people who have
smarter relationships with technology, computers and the Web .

Education Voters of Pennsylvania will be holding
a day-long summit for public education advocates across the state on Saturday
September 22 in Harrisburg,
PA.

With public education coming under attack on
multiple levels, the goal of this event is to bring together community members
who are standing up for public schools in their own communities for training,
planning and coordinating statewide efforts to maximize the impact that we all
have. We'll have a chance to brush up on and learn more about key policy
issues, get training on effective advocacy tools and techniques and share
stories and idea about local effort and how we bring this work together in a
unified way. Breakfast and lunch will be provided.

Education
Policy and LeadershipCenter

Please mark your calendars and plan on joining EPLC, our partners, and
guests on October 11 in Harrisburg
for a full day of events. Stay tuned toaei-pa.orgfor information about our 2nd Arts and Education
Symposium. Scholarships and Act 48 Credit will be available.
Outstanding speakers and panelists from Pennsylvania
and beyond will once again come together to address key topics in the arts and
arts education and related public policy advocacy initiatives. This is a
networking and learning opportunity not to be missed!

About Me

Mark Twain: "God made the Idiot for practice, and then He made the School Board."
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School Director, School District of Haverford Township, since 1999;
Chairman, Delaware County School Boards Legislative Council;
Founder and Co-Chair, Southeastern Pennsylvania School Districts’ Education Coalition/Keystone State Education Coalition, Board of Directors, PA School Boards Assocation
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If you have any feedback or links to articles that might be a good fit on this blog please email me at lawrenceafeinberg@gmail.com
Thanks!